Kiss v. Clinton Green North, LLC

Background

Before trial, Plaintiff Tibor Kiss filed four motions asking the court to exclude or limit evidence and testimony. The order addressed those motions only.

Rulings

1. Immigration-status evidence — granted in part and denied in part. Kiss sought to exclude all evidence about his immigration status. The court allowed Defendants to elicit his undocumented status for the limited purpose of considering it as one possible factor in determining lost future wages. The parties must agree on a stipulation that states the relevant facts and explains that the evidence is offered only for that purpose. The stipulated facts may be used when examining the parties’ damages experts about lost future wages, but may not be used to question any other witness without the court’s permission. The court stated that this limitation was intended to reduce possible unfair prejudice against Kiss.

2. Bernard Lorenz’s testimony — denied. Kiss sought to prevent Lorenz from testifying. The court found that Defendants had substantially complied with the requirements for providing an expert report under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2), and denied the motion.

3. Dr. Douglas Cohen and Ricardo Estrada’s testimony — denied. Kiss sought to prevent Cohen and Estrada from testifying. The court noted that Defendants initially failed to provide a list of Cohen’s prior testimony but supplied it after being alerted to the omission. The court found that Kiss was not harmed by the delay. Because Estrada’s curriculum vitae stated that he provides vocational-expert testimony as needed, the court ordered that any list of Estrada’s prior expert testimony from the last four years be produced by September 27, 2021. The motion was denied.

4. Dr. Klein’s testimony — denied. Kiss sought to limit Klein’s testimony to his reports and to require a complete list of Klein’s prior testimony. The court found that Klein’s October 23, 2020, addendum report contained the information Kiss claimed was missing from the initial report and that Kiss was not harmed by any delay. The motion was denied.

Disposition

Judge Lorna G. Schofield directed the Clerk of Court to close the four motions at Docket Nos. 216, 219, 222, and 225. This was a pretrial evidence order and did not decide the underlying claims.